Moroccan Stew

A few weeks ago I mentioned that I was going to try a new recipe for Moroccan Stew that I found on Cam's Vegan Vibration blog. The stew was fantastic, I've raved about it ever since, and now I'm bringing it to you.

This dish is relatively fast, super-easy and absolutely delicious. It's healthy, hearty and has a great sweet/savory/nutty flavour combination that surprised me the first time I tasted it. Kind of like a good Malai Kofta, but different.

I must admit that I'm a pinch/bit/handful kind of cook, but the first time I make something, I like to have some hard and fast measurements to follow so I know where I'm taking liberties. With this in mind, I've made a few amendments to Cam's recipe, just to make it work for me and a bit more step-by-step.

Ingredients:

1/2 medium onion - chopped
2-3 stalks celery - chopped, greens removed
1/2 medium zucchini - chopped
3 cloves garlic - finely diced
1 inch chunk of ginger - grated
3 cups boiling water + 1 tbsp Knorr soup stock
1 medium sweet potato - cubed, skin on
1 large white potato - cubed
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 19 oz can chick peas (rinsed)
1/2 cup raisins
8 dried apricots - chopped
2 generous tbsps peanut butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
cracked black pepper
sea salt

Sauté the onions, celery, zucchini, and garlic and ginger in a teaspoon of olive oil in the bottom of a large sauce pan.

Once you can see through the onions and zucchini, add the water, stock, spices, sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Bring this to a boil until the potatoes are tender (about 12-15 minutes).

Add the chickpeas and tomatoes, leave it to simmer until it starts boiling again. (don't forget to stir!)

At this point, lower the heat and add in the peanut butter and dried fruit and let it cook 10 minutes longer to blend flavours. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve over quinoa or brown rice with a thick slice of fresh french bread and butter (a must for any good stew).

Note: This makes a *lot* of very filling stew. I served mine over brown rice, which also takes about 50 minutes to make. If you put the rice on while your potatoes are cooking, everything is done at about the same time. The longer that everything has to blend, the better; it was even more delicious the next day. We ate this for about three meals, and I froze the rest in meal size containers for future lunches.